Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-09-14
4 4FEDER4L OFFICE HOLDER on DEM
OCRITIC PRACTICES.

General John NJ. Cor>e, the hero who
held the fort" at Allatoona. is postmaster at
Boston. lie was invited by the admins
tration 10 take the position without any
effort or the expression of a wish on his
part. Having certain business plans under
consideration he declined the place, after
ward accepting it, and correspondent of
the New York Herald says that
1.-THE spirit that made hero of Gen
eral Corse during the war. when he
held the fort on the railroad bank
in northern Georgia with small force OF
Union soldiers against vastly superior
force. animateS him in civil life" As a
matter of course, the general is a democrat,
but. as he has proceeded to discharge his
duties. faithfully. as a public officer. and
has refused 10 use his position 10 reward
local politicians these persons are accusing
him of being traitor 10 his party" that
he ''is acting contrary to the wishes of the
president" and that "he is a stumbling
democracy. What the general says of
these men is very interesting and exceed
ingly significant:
There is a set of professional politicians
in Boston. some of whom have made their
party allegiance dependent on the dollars
that could be made by party work. Some
of these patriots obtain small offices for
followers at the city hall and elsewhere, for
a money consideration. ''B' pays "A"
$50, say for an office. A is petty
boss" He gets the office for "B" through
his prestige a. a boss. acting. in other
words. as All Office broker. In former days
the Boston poStoffice used to be fine field
for the operations of these party hucksters.
The number of employees was So large that
the sale of offices realized large sum of
money Ia the gang of machine politicians.
The money was not obtained or used TO
further the interests of either of the pOlit-
ical parties. 1t went into certain pockets
and remained there. | will not go any
further on this point. but might easily
give names. and dates. and the specific Of
fees that We're on sale, as ii We're.
had scarcely taken my seat in the office
when realized that certain clique Of pro-
fessional politicians expected 10 Use the
postOfiice as place into which they could
push their clients, regardless of law, equi-
~. common sense. or business principles.
am democrat was democrat when
commanded brigade in the Union army.
have been democrat ever since. l have
served as a member of the democratic state
committee of Massachusetts. l have been
a democrat. and am democrat today. be-
cause believe that the principles OF the
democracy come nearer TO my ideal party
than those of any other party.
assumed the charge of the Boston post
Office with the fixed intention Of running
the office As a business concern is conduct
ed. of getting all could for the government
have sworn to serve. and. if possible. to
make il the best postoiiice in the country. |
make this last expression with no intention
10 criticise any other office. but merely As q
legitimate ambition any responsible office
holder is justified in entertaining. l re-
solved 10 follow the laws regulating the
terms of Office aS they are laid out.